2015-01-09 19:31
Yola - Seven children have been reunited with parents lost in the
chaos of attacks in Nigeria's northeastern Islamic insurgency but
hundreds more remain alone, officials say of youngsters who have no idea
if their families are alive or dead.
"There is this fear that
some of those unaccompanied children might have lost their parents
during the insurgents' attack on their villages," said Sa'ad Bello, the
coordinator of five refugee camps hosting scores of lonely children in
Yola, capital of Adamawa state.
He was optimistic that more
reunions will come as residents return to towns the military has retaken
from extremists in recent weeks. "There will be more reunions when
normalcy fully returns," he told The Associated Press in an interview
this week.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the past
year and more than 1 million people are displaced within Nigeria because
of the 5-year insurgency, according to the Washington-based Council for
Foreign Relations. Hundreds of thousands of others have sought refuge
across borders.
Also read: Boko Haram attacks drive 3,000 Nigerians to Chad
Executive
secretary Haruna Hamman Furo of the Adamawa State Emergency Management
Agency said some children may have lost parents among thousands who fled
into neighboring Cameroon, and officials are encouraging them to return
home.
Bello said they have been able to reunite only seven
children, working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, but
138 remain alone.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday
urged Boko Haram's leaders "to end the destruction of so many lives and
communities" and to immediately and unconditionally release hundreds of
kidnapped schoolgirls and boys.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
threatened to escalate the conflict with more attacks on Cameroon, in a
video posted on YouTube.
"A man cannot be a Muslim without rebelling against democracy," he said as Nigeria prepares for Feb. 14 presidential elections.
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